Anthropology (ANT) Course Descriptions

ANT 5023 History, Method, and Theory of Archaeology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
A survey of the history and development of archaeology, research techniques, and method and theory of prehistoric research. May be repeated for credit with different instructors.

ANT 5043 Seminar in Laboratory Methods in Anthropology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This seminar reviews the physical and technical aspects of analysis of anthropological materials. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.

ANT 5073 Advanced Biological Anthropology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
An intensive review of the history of biological anthropology and current developments in method and theory. Topics will be drawn from the four major areas of biological anthropology: genetics and evolutionary theory, human variation and adaptation, primatology, and paleoanthropology.

ANT 5283 Hunters and Gatherers
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
A study of the major issues archaeologists address concerning the cultural ecology and cultural evolution of hunters and gatherers around the world.

ANT 5313 Seminar in Archaeological Research Techniques
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course addresses key archaeological research strategies involved in the acquisition and analysis of archaeological data. Topics may include survey and excavation strategies as well as analyses of various archaeological materials, such as ceramics or lithics. The course highlights the integration of these techniques into broader research designs and their application to important questions about the past. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.

ANT 5413 Seminar in the Prehistory of Texas and Adjacent Areas
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
Intensive study of prehistoric and early historic aboriginal cultures of Texas and adjacent areas. Focus is on problems of interpretation, current archaeological research of the region, and the impact of federal legislation on Texas archaeology.

ANT 5453 Seminar on the Archaeology of the American Southwest and Adjacent Regions
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
Review of the major prehistoric cultures of the American Southwest, including the Anasazi, Mogollon, and Hohokam cultural regions and adjacent areas. Emphasis is on current research.

ANT 5483 Landscape and Settlement
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course explores the wide array of data and theories used to identify and explain the patterned distribution of human activity. The significance of settlement pattern data is underscored, and relationships between data and theory are critically evaluated.

ANT 5553,6 Field Course in Archaeology
(1-6, 2-12) 3 or 6 hours credit. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
The opportunity for advanced training in field procedures and their applications to problem-oriented field research. May be repeated for credit.

ANT 5563 Seminar in Andean Archaeology and Ethnography
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This seminar focuses on Andean anthropology from the perspective of archaeology, ethnology and ethnohistory. Topics include the development of civilizations such as Tiwanaku and the Inka, the Colonial period, and the politics of indigenism and the state. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.

ANT 5573 Anthropology and Science
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course examines anthropology’s historical and ongoing relationship to science, scientific theory and the ethnography of science. Attention is paid to methodological, epistemological and ontological debates as they inform current practices.

ANT 5583 Teaching Anthropology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course provides students with the opportunity to examine key pedagogical issues that instructors confront in the construction and implementation of a semester-long undergraduate course. Emphasis will be placed on discipline-specific concerns and approaches to teaching. Basic areas of exploration include: fundamentals of putting together a class; educational technology; pedagogical theory and practice; and consideration of changes in higher education and the nature of the job market for academics.

ANT 5603 Ancient Civilizations
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course presents a global survey of the development of the world’s ancient civilizations, beginning with the transition to food-producing economies. The case studies include civilizations of both the New World (Maya, Teotihuacan, Tiwanaku, Inka) and the Old World (Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, Egypt, China).

ANT 5613 Seminar in Resource Frontiers
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This seminar examines the social and environmental implications of resource development at the fringes of the global economic system. Core readings engage both theory and ethnography to explore the dynamics of actual and intended resource developments on politically and economically marginalized peoples. Topics generally include mining, logging, petroleum development, biotechnology, hunting and trapping, and other areas of interest to the instructor and students.

ANT 5623 Archaeology of Mexico
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course charts the development of the civilizations of ancient Mexico as understood through archaeology, art, inscriptions, and historical documents. The societies covered include the Olmec, Zapotec, Teotihuacan, and Aztec.

ANT 5633 Peoples of Mexico and Central America since 1492
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course brings together archaeology, ethnography, and ethnohistory to examine the societies and cultures of Mexico and Central America since European Contact, with a focus on indigenous peoples. Topics discussed include native responses to conquest and colonialism; the transformation of Native American economies; and recent indigenous political movements.

ANT 5643 Primates in Ecological Communities
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course is a community ecology class focusing on the interactions that primates have with other species and with their habitat. Specific topics to be explored include: models of species diversity, coexistence mechanisms, determinants of primate community density, coevolution, competition, species packing, assembly rules, conservation, and primate-plant interactions such as seed dispersal and pollination.

ANT 6133 Seminar in Medical Anthropology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course offers a study of selected topics in contemporary theories and their application in medical anthropology. Topics include cross-cultural and biocultural approaches to the study of sickness, healing, and healing systems; critical approaches to the study of biomedicine, globalization and international health; meaning-centered approaches to understanding the experience of suffering and pain; and ecological approaches to understanding the relationship between human health, cultural processes, and the environment.

ANT 6213 Topics in the Anthropology of Native North America
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
An organized course examining topics of current interest to anthropologists with a focus on North America. May be repeated for credit.

ANT 6223 The Archaeology of Household and Residence
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course examines the data, methods, and theories used to reconstruct the composition and activities of domestic groups. The relevance of household studies in archaeology is stressed through inspection of the economic, political, and ideological links between domestic groups and broader social formations.

ANT 6233 Topics in the Anthropology of Complex Societies
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
Attention focuses on issues central to the comparative study of ancient complex societies. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the development of hierarchical political systems; the nature of divine kingship; agricultural intensification and surplus production; and the collapse of socio-political systems. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.

ANT 6303 Seminar in Research Design and Proposal Writing
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course familiarizes students with the philosophical foundations of social science research, the structure and types of research designs, and pragmatic considerations of data acquisition and analysis. The relationship between theory and research design and methods is emphasized. The final project is a scholarly research proposal.

ANT 6353 Field Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
The study and practice of field research methods of cultural anthropology emphasizing participant observation and use of informants.

ANT 6443,6 Supervised Field Research
3 or 6 hours credit. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
The course is designed to offer the opportunity for intensive training and requires the student to carry out independent research and analysis of field data. The grade report for the course is either “CR” (satisfactory performance) or “NC” (unsatisfactory performance). May be repeated for credit, but not more than 3 hours may be applied to the Doctoral degree.

ANT 6503 Seminar in Cultural Resource Management
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This seminar reviews the legislative basis, practical application, and current state of cultural resource management in Texas and the United States.

ANT 6513 Maya Civilization
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course brings together archaeological data, art and iconography, ancient texts, colonial documents, paleoenvironmental studies, and ethnographic accounts to present the rich and complex history of Maya civilization, from its origins to the present time. Special attention will be given to the Classic period (A.D. 300–900).

ANT 6603 Ecological Anthropology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Admission to the Doctoral Program in Anthropology or consent of instructor.
This course explores anthropology’s engagements with the environment, emphasizing historical trends and recent developments across the discipline. Explicit attention is paid to empirical studies and to the theories and assumptions anthropologists have brought to their research.

ANT 6623 Seminar in Analytical Methods in Archaeology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
Basic quantitative and qualitative approaches to the analysis and interpretation of archaeological field and laboratory data are reviewed. (Formerly ANT 5513. Credit cannot be earned for both ANT 6623 and ANT 5513.)

ANT 6643 Seminar in Culture and Economy
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course offers a background in economic anthropology through the study of production, distribution, and consumption from a cross-cultural perspective. Topics may include: the history of economic approaches in anthropology; comparisons of economies across different scales of complexity; the articulation of capitalist and noncapitalist modes of production; and resource extraction, management, and development in various cultural and political contexts.

ANT 6653 Spatial Techniques in Anthropology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course explores topics in the theories and techniques of spatial analysis, the operation of geographic information systems, and the use of digital and remotely sensed imagery. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.

ANT 6663 Research Methods in Ecological Anthropology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course provides an overview of various field research methods used by ecological anthropologists. Topics include sampling and research design, quantitative and qualitative ranking, mapping and transects, resource inventories, participatory appraisal, preparing environmental specimens, and other applicable methods chosen by the instructor. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.

ANT 6703 Human Population Ecology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Admission to the Doctoral Program in Anthropology or consent of instructor.
A synthesis of core constructs in population ecology as they apply to the anthropological study of human populations. The focus is on understanding biocultural variables and multiplicity of causality in human population ecology. Topics include human demography and reproductive ecology; behavioral ecology and life history theory; epidemiology and the environmental history of human health and disease; conflict and cooperation within and between human populations; and, sustainability and the human impact on the natural environment.

ANT 6713 Topics in Primatological Research
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course draws from current literature in primate behavioral ecology. Topics include kinship and dominance, feeding competition, mating strategies, and social organization. The contribution of primate studies to understanding human evolution is considered. May be repeated for credit when topics vary. (Formerly ANT 5733. Credit cannot be earned for both ANT 6713 and ANT 5733.) (Formerly titled “Seminar in Primate Behavioral Ecology.”)

ANT 6723 Seminar in Culture, Environment, and Conservation
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course takes an anthropological approach to the analysis of environmental conservation. The core readings focus on community-based projects that join actors across cultural and political divides. Students will engage critiques of conservationist ideology and practice in order to envision more effective ways to protect threatened environments and the rights of their human and nonhuman inhabitants.

ANT 6803 Medical Ecology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This seminar draws on different anthropological approaches to understanding the relationship between human health and the environment. Topics include the political ecology of health; ecology and evolution of health and illness; health, development and global change; and praxis-oriented perspectives on environmental health.

ANT 6823 Human-Animal Relations
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course is centered on the interactions between human and nonhuman animals. Topics may include animal histories, agencies and behaviors; the role of animals in biotechnology, research, and agricultural practices; domesticates and companion species; animal rights and human values; cross-cultural classification and the social construction of animals.

ANT 6853 Topics in Human Evolution
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course examines evolutionary theory, hominid taxonomy and selected topics in human evolution. Topics may include hominin origins, cerebral expansion and the emergence of culture, modern human origins, and the role of environmental change in human evolution. May be repeated for credit with approval of instructor.

ANT 6863 Evolution of Human Diet
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
All species have unique adaptations for procuring energy from their environment, as well as adaptations that they share with other species. This course explores the evolutionary underpinnings and ecological implications of these adaptations within the Order Primates. Topics include: metabolism, nutritional requirements, the influence of plant defense chemicals on feeding, the evolution of body size and its implications for diet and feeding, sensory ecology, hypotheses for the evolution of human diet, and dietary implications for modern human health and the origin of medicine.

ANT 6873 Energy, the Brain and the Gut in Primate and Human Evolution
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course centers on the brain and gut in human and primate evolution. This will include evaluations of the interactions between these two anatomical systems and their relationship with the acquisition of energy in the diet of fossil hominins, modern humans, and nonhuman primates. Other topics include the anatomy of the gut and brain, metabolism, dietary quality and energy, digestion, and interactions between the gut and brain.

ANT 6903 Anthropology of Gender
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
This course offers a critical assessment of disciplinary approaches to understanding sexuality, gender roles, and social and biological reproduction. Additional consideration is given to how femininity and masculinity have been represented in anthropological research and texts.

ANT 6923 Conservation of Primates and Other Threatened Species
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
Ecological and anthropological examination of contemporary problems and issues regarding the conservation of threatened species, with an emphasis on nonhuman primates. Topics to be covered include successes and failures in the conservation arena; deforestation, fragmentation, and habitat loss; hunting and the pet trade; genetics of conservation; effects of species loss on ecological communities; and efficacy of community-conservation approaches focused on local human populations.

ANT 6931-3 Internship in Anthropology
1 to 3 hours credit.
A supervised experience, relevant to the student’s program of study, within selected community organizations. Must be taken on a credit/no-credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

ANT 6951-3 Independent Study
1 to 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and permission in writing (form available) of the instructor, the Graduate Advisor of Record, and the Department Chair.
Independent reading, research, discussion, and/or writing under the direction of a faculty member. For students needing specialized work not normally or not often available as part of the regular course offerings. May be repeated for credit.

ANT 6961 Comprehensive Examination
1 hour credit. Prerequisite: Approval of the appropriate Graduate Program Committee to take the Comprehensive Examination.
Independent study course for the purpose of taking the Comprehensive Examination. May be repeated as many times as approved by the Graduate Program Committee. Enrollment is required each term in which the Comprehensive Examination is taken if no other courses are being taken that term. The grade report for the course is either “CR” (satisfactory performance on the Comprehensive Examination) or “NC” (unsatisfactory performance on the Comprehensive Examination).

ANT 6971-3 Special Problems
(1-0, 2-0, 3-0) 1 to 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
An organized course offering the opportunity for specialized study not normally or not often available as part of the regular course offerings. Special Problems courses may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

ANT 6981-3 Master’s Thesis
1 to 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: Permission of the Graduate Advisor of Record and thesis director.
Thesis research and preparation. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 6 hours will apply to the Master’s degree. Credit will be awarded upon completion of the thesis. Enrollment is required each term in which the thesis is in progress.

ANT 6991-3 Pre-Doctoral Research
1 to 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: Consent of Supervising Professor and the Ph.D. Graduate Advisor of Record; must be a doctoral student.
Supervised research conducted prior to completion of the qualifying examination. Pre-doctoral research hours do not apply to the doctoral program of study. The grade report for this course is either “CR” (satisfactory performance) or “NC” (unsatisfactory performance). May be repeated for credit, but not more than 3 hours will apply to the Doctoral degree.

ANT 7003 Dissertation Proposal
3 hours credit. Prerequisites: Consent of Supervising Professor and the Ph.D. Graduate Advisor of Record; must be a doctoral student.
Preparation and writing of dissertation proposal. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 3 hours will apply to the Doctoral degree. The grade report for the course is either “CR” (satisfactory performance) or “NC” (unsatisfactory performance).

ANT 7011-3 Directed Doctoral Research
1 to 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: Permission of the Ph.D. Graduate Advisor of Record and dissertation director; must be a Ph.D. candidate.
Doctoral research and preparation. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 12 hours will apply to the Doctoral degree. Enrollment in either ANT 7011-3 or ANT 7021-3, depending on progress, is required each term in which the dissertation is in progress.

ANT 7021-3 Doctoral Dissertation
1 to 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: Permission of the Ph.D. Graduate Advisor of Record and dissertation director; must be a Ph.D. candidate.
Preparation and writing of the Doctoral dissertation. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 12 hours will apply to the Doctoral degree. Enrollment in either ANT 7021-3 or ANT 7011-3, depending on progress, is required each term in which the dissertation is in progress.